Review of A MAP FOR MURDER

Review of A MAP FOR MURDER

By Celica Cook—Director of the Cozy Cat Press Book Club

Three girls go from regular apartment life to solving a murder mystery when one of them finds herself behind bars for the murder of her own mother. Molly and Janet know their good friend Merilee, who was such a devoted daughter to her mother, would never do such a thing. But, if Merilee didn’t do it, who did? When the girls decide to find out, they step right into the messy world of getting involved in solving a murder. Their journey takes them back to their hometown in Shotgun City near Dallas, TX where they discover the shocking truth about the murder of Merilee’s mother. It seems there was a large sum of money involved-- hidden treasure, in fact. It is the perfect motive for murder. When the girls get their hands on the map that will take them to the treasure, their plan goes spiraling as unexpected events urge them to be smarter than the killer, and take matters into their own hands. This book was full of exciting twists and turns. Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is how it's group written by 24 different authors. Each author wrote one chapter, then passed the story off to the next author, who would continue the story. It reminds me of those ‘continue-the-story’ notes that used to get passed around when I was in high school. I never knew how the story might turn out, and they usually ended up turning out pretty wild, or in a way I would never have expected. I imagine writing this book would have been a similar experience. You would think that each chapter would sound very different depending on the variances in tone in the authors voices as separate writers, but the book was seamless as ever. The story was set in Texas, and I noticed that the authors maintained that subtle Texas drawl in the voices of the characters. I read this book while staying in Louisiana, and the feel of the setting and the personalities and language of the characters felt comfortingly familiar to me. I could easily have believed that this book was written by one single author. The fact that it is written by 24 different authors is a testament to the talent of the authors that worked on this story.

Cozy Cat Press has other group written mysteries, and I am definitely going to try reading them in the future. I recommend this book because of it’s witty good humor, enticing mystery and it’s unique group writing style.